Flour Giveaway...

Clicky on over here and maybe you could win. But hopefully not, because I really want this one. Bad. To see her whole shop, click below.

She's great too.

I just asked Sarah if she thought I was great. And her response?

"one million twenty milloin sixty thousand great."

You too, sister. Thanks for the smile today.

Here's a funny one from driving in the car today:

Me: "Raegan, are you coming to watch me or are you going to Aunt Louisa's house?"

Raegan: "Well, I want to come watch you, mom, but is Jaxon coming too?"

Me: "Nope. He's staying with Aunt Louisa."

Raegan: "Good. Cuz I don't have 4 eyes and I couldn't watch you and Jax. That would totally make me look like an alien."

I love her.

happy birthday goosie girl!

i remember when blake turned 6 and i could hardly believe that i had a 6 year old. now my first girlie is turning six and i can still hardly believe it. i really don't know when this happened. she is so big and extremely independent. she is the only of my four kiddos that doesn't mind being on her own. she takes on the world like she owns it. all day kindergarten was a breeze for her. no separation anxiety for this one. {and it absolutely terrifies me.} i have noticed a theme in her life. she clings to the men that surround her. uncle nick. papa. hewson. ky-guy. uncle kc. it's not a negative thing {yet}. i just pray that the men in her life will always be strong and valiant. six feels so big right now. my wishes for each of her candles:

1st birthday:

{i don't have any pictures because our computer was stolen}

i hope one day you get to experience being a mother.

it really is the best.

2nd birthday:

i hope you use this face on your husband and it works.

3rd birthday:

i hope you always will keep your spunk and sass.

4th birthday:

i hope you remember who loves you the most.

5th birthday:

i hope you've learned early how priceless you are.

and believe it.

mostly, i wish for you to find the joy in your life.

and always have a reason to keep on smilin'.

love you, baby girl.

and just remember, six is really still so small.

a time out of sorts.

it's been a painfully long time since i've posted anything on our blog. by painful, i mean every time i think about my lack of posting, i get sick to my stomach. i hate that time is slipping away and i have failed to record the daily ins and outs for my children's sake. life has been FUN these past few months. here's a quick recap to get me updated.

october: we spent an entire week in texas with grandma and papa and loved every minute were there. we got to finally meet sunny and alfred and jamie and love knowing more of our family that is so special to us. we drove the entire 17 hours each way with uncle nick and it was way too long! more on this trip later. for halloween, blake was a jedi, raegan was witch, sarah chose rapunzel and jax was superman. october was also u2 and my 10 year high school reunion.

november: what a beautiful month. this is always my favorite time of year. thanksgiving was spent at my parents house. i also competed in the casa grande triathlon. my first ever and i loved it and the turkey trot 10k on thanksgiving.

december: was just as busy as every other december. holidays parties filled almost every weekend and we always enjoy every minute of it. the girls had another ballet recital and it was fun to watch them even if one of them was too scared to dance :) we met alex's girlfriend from boston who became his fiancee on christmas day. we celebrated jaxon's first birthday quietly with granny and opa the day after christmas. he is just adorable and growing too fast!

january: kc and sherry moved to hawaii on new year's day! we celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss early in the month and i ran another 10k at the end of the month.

february: alex and katherine were married on the 12th and i got to be their official wedding photographer. i have really started to love taking pictures and want to get a lot better. raegan was student of the month- way to go, goosie! jake made me the most beautiful chalkboard and magnet board for valentine's day and i love them. jaxon is climbing on everything. he makes us laugh every day and loves to eat. this is very new to me-a child that eats.

march: we went to mexico for spring break and enjoyed every second of it. i love watching my kids play and run and dig and splash without a care in the world. they bring me so much joy. blake played lots of frisbee and wiffle ball. raegan and sarah loved the waves and making castles. jaxon just loved everything about the sand...eating it, laying in it, rolling in it and putting his face in it. i even found sand in ears 3 days after we were home.

april: so far april has been beautiful. baseball is in full swing now and our only player this year is blake. jake is still coaching his team and they're in their first year of machine pitch. their team is the angels but jake refers to them as the halos. today was general conference and easter sunday and it has been a peaceful day. lindy came by with her girlies to watch the morning session and we had a potluck at the compound this evening. raegan will turn 6 on thursday and i just don't know where all the time has gone. i remember when we brought her home from the hospital it was the day before easter and she was so tiny.

this is what we've been up to. jake was released as a primary teacher and is now teaching the 14-15 year old sunday school class. i was released from the primary presidency and i'm now busy as the ward camp director. i'm enjoying it so far and it should be a fun new adventure.

September (updated). or started.

What a lazy lady I have been. Unmotivated and feeling overwhelmed. I don't even have any excuses. At least not anything coming to mind. Just not blogging. (remind me to never refer to myself as 'lady' again. not ever. Tonight's post will be a compilation of photos and a brief explanation. Here goes...

Sarah started preschool at Orange Patch with her cousin Rachel

I don't love this picture, but it makes me realize even more how much we look alike

Jaxon had a contest with Blake to see who could grow their top teeth in first...

In this picture it was still undecided, but the winner is......Jaxon!

I wish you could smell this hair-do. I caught Raegan and Sarah each with an aerosol can of air freshener "makin' him look handsome..." Mission accomplished, ladies.

Found matching shoes for all of my boys and couldn't pass them up. The baby's cost the most-dad's the least. I don't get it.

Rae has taken an interest in doing her own hair and comes up with some really creative do's.

One day I came across Sarah playing. Should I be concerned? We went to the outside movie at the amphitheater and loved it. The weather was wonderful!

The kids had their primary program yesterday and because their parts were memorized and they were brave and didn't need help, Dad let them have all the ice cream and toppings that they wanted after church. Can you say, "sugar high"? Stay tuned for part two.

It's Great to be Eight...months

Okay, really. This kid is just the cutest thing EVER! We love our Jaxaroni! At 8 months he finally loves food, but only the big people kind. These pictures are when we game him a piece of sausage and he was incredibly pleased! He has 2 bottom teeth and almost 2 top teeth. He makes funny faces and when we laugh, he makes more! His very favorite friend is Blake and gets really excited when he comes home from school. When Jaxon was 6.5 months old, he decided to sit, crawl and stand all for the first time in the very same day! Now we just can't slow him down. He still is famous for his adorable fish faces and makes them whenever he is really concentrating on something. He's not quite sleeping through the night, but takes two two-hour naps during the day. He loves baths, Flash, going nakey, getting tickled (he has the best thighs!), falling asleep in my arms, and popsicles. He absolutely hates getting dressed and the texture of pureed food. That's about it. We sure love this kid to pieces!

Rolling Over the Billows...

Yesterday we took the kids camping. I originally wasn't going to go because Jax has been so grumpy with teething, but Jake REALLY wanted us to come so we decided to hop in at the last minute. Uncle Nick was able to come with us, too, so we were full to the brim and ready for an adventure. We went just past Payson, not quite to Pine at a little turn-off that looked promising and green. The weather was beautifully refreshing and we were all excited to stretch our legs when suddenly the clouds started to drip. Then drizzle. Then sprinkle. Then hail. Then pour. Then it just became ridiculous! And we had only been there 10 minutes. Jake and Nick were trying to put up the tent while I was trying to keep 4 kids and a

dog dry all while slip-sliding in the mud. I got the kids and dog loaded back into the car, but not without doing a number to our clothes, shoes, and even the interior. When the tent was set up with the rain flap, I went to work mopping up puddles inside the tent with Huggies diapers (great absorbent qualities) because we had more of those to spare than we had blankets. Jake and Nick thought I was a genius. I just used what I'm familiar with. After I accepted the fact that this was going to be the dirtiest camping trip E.V.E.R., I was able to let go and have a fun time. We, (meaning Jake and Nick), finally got dinner made while I entertained children and dog in the tent, then we proceeded to eat in the tent and change into dry clothes and tuck into bed. The kids had a great night and I realized that they were having a great time because none of the work fell on them and that they would most likely have some fun memories of this trip. Because of the rain, we all got to bed super early...like 7:30. Because of that, we all got up super early too...like 5:45. We made delicious boil-in-a-bag omelets and cleaned up camp. We were packed up by 8:00 because everything was muddy and we were basically out of clothes and dry shoes. On the way home, we decided to stop by the bicycle graveyard, which by the way is not a graveyard at all, but a very lively bike lot that ships things (not sure what things) all over the world and is also one of the 50 most popular destinations in AZ for a day trip. The boys enjoyed it and seemed to find things they absolutely.couldn't.live.without. As for me, I could totally live without the fact that my washing machine and dryer have been running non-stop since we got home at 10:30 this morning. That's all.

Highlights: *Raegan and Sarah insisting that they needed to go to the bathroom no less than 106,779 times because it was just so fun to get to go wherever they wanted.*Jaxon eating everything. No joke.Not kidding.*Flash finding a great chew toy. Look closely.Yep. not joking on that one either. *Having 2 men there. And having them admit that if I hadn't come, they would have left the minute it started raining, but they had to prove their manliness to me. *Coughing all night. ALL night. *Getting the van stuck in the mud and not knowing if we were going to be able to ever go home. *Getting home less than 24 hours after our adventure began. The End.

that question again...updated

Today as I was carting the 4 kids and a stroller around the tiny elementary campus faithfully meeting new teachers and vigilantly filling out all the important papers as my face slowly melted away and the kids cheeks turned a clammy pink, I was once again caught off guard by the question. You know the one that is nonchalantly thrown in at the bottom of the page almost as an after thought? Which to me is ironic because it is so thought provoking. I was immediately taken back to the first time I had a kindergartner and the flood of emotion I felt at seeing the question. So, needless to say as I sat at an all too tiny desk in a way too tiny chair thinking about what I could possibly write on the two inch line following the question: Is there anything special that you feel is important for me to know about your child? , I was overcome by memories and the reality that there isn't enough paper in all of that tiny elementary school that would be adequate for me to write all that I wanted this teacher to know about my precious girl that I was turning over to her care from here on out. So, once again, I gathered my thoughts, papers, and children and sheepishly informed the teacher that the baby was hungry (partially true) and that I would return all the papers to school in Raegan's back pack tomorrow. So here I sit, Mrs. Smith, doing my homework so I can return it to you tomorrow all neatly filled out with emergency contacts and all. And to answer your question, yes, there are a few things I would like you to know about Raegan, * She's very timid at first but will eventually warm up to anyone that is kind. *She might be a little bit of a blond on occasion. *She let's her little sister sleep in her bed when she gets scared. *She is strong willed. *She calls belt loops on pants- bell peppers. And I don't correct her. *When she doesn't know an answer, she'll probably tell you that her brain is on vacation. *She is wise beyond her years. *Her voice can go up 3 octaves in one sentence! *She loves to sing, but not be the center of attention. *If she believes something is right, she will not budge! *She loves her family. *She is the only one in our home who loves cockroaches. And she does. *She is sensitive to loud noises. *She's a good friend, but afraid of rejection. *Her laugh is infectious. *Her smile will melt you. There you go, Mrs. Smith. A tiny glimpse into what is so special about my Raegan. If you're wondering why the paper only says that she's a good kid, incidentally, you didn't leave enough space.

**Update**Kindergarten, Mrs. Smith As we arrived at school this morning, she quietly informed me that I didn't need to hold her hand anymore.

Then as the bell rang and it was time for her to line up, her hand slipped quickly into mine and she held on and asked me never to let go. Oh! How I wanted to take her up on that offer!

Second grade, Ms. Meinhardt Blake on the other hand, practically took off running as soon as we got to school, but tried to not show me how excited he was. So they're off on a new adventure and so am I... Tempe beach park with only 2 kids, woo-hoo!

Bionic Woman.

It's true. I am robo-woman now. Last Thursday I got my first prosthetic. I say first because eventually, I'll have two. Cool, I know. Jealous? Yes. You are. Really, to be honest, it wasn't any fun at first. I felt like I was in one of those fun houses at the state fair where you can't walk straight and you've eaten way too many fried Twinkies and you have a really bad ear ache to top it all off. Now, I just feel like I'm in the fun house all the time but I can hear the teenage girls all the way over in line at the fried Twinkies stand whispering about the cute boys that just walked by. Inner-ear surgery really messes with your head. Walking straight is a little game that I'm getting better at, but haven't quite mastered.It's even better when the people you're talking to start to sway back and forth just to throw you off. I don't think there is anybody that I've talked to since Friday that isn't guilty of this. Thank you all for messing with my head. The best is when I hiccup or burp or cough or sneeze or yawn, my head feels like it's being slingshot to the left and I always grab for anything close by. Quite comical to watch, I'm sure.I couldn't get the camera to focus, but that spec is my old stapes bone. The smallest one in the body.

I am amazed that anyone could decide that a hearing problem could be narrowed down to one TINY bone and figure out how to fix it. Heavenly Father created something amazing and complex and I am in awe of the capabilities of the human body. Just understanding more about one of it's functions makes me so grateful for my Creator and those who pursue education to serve others. Side note: The night before I went into surgery, we had family prayer and sent the kids into bed. I walked into Blake's room a little late and he was leading the girls in another prayer just for me. It was very sweet to see their little faith as they prayed together for their mom.

The happiest place on earth. Promise.

I love snuggling in my bed with all my babes...especially when they're all happy and silly.

I love being a mom. I think it is by far the most honorable and noble calling I will ever have. I love my children! I wanted to start a new tradition this year so I asked each of the kids two questions:

#1: What is one thing you wish I did MORE of?

(Blake) play more * (Reagan) make cupcakes * (Sarah) help make her bed

#2: What is one thing you wish I did LESS of?

(Blake) telling me to stay in the playroom * (Raegan) being on the computer (Sarah)watching the news

So there you have it, my Mom goals for the year. I love to get their perspective and do a little better in what matters to them. Speaking of perspective, here's my gift that Blake made at school this year. *click on picture to enlarge and read It actually made me laugh out loud, cry happy tears and even a few sad tears. Love it!

Among other things, I also received tigger and pooh flower seeds, 12 cents, and a flat green marble. I love that my children were so selfless in giving what they had. It was a sweet gesture for them to give what was special to them. Unfortunately, I also got a very nice picture of a witch carefully scrawled in crayon with an excited "Happy Mother's Day!" from Raegan. Subliminal message? Probably. All in all, the day was delightful. Breakfast in bed was delicious. But the morning snuggling in bed with the kids was precious and priceless. A glimpse of heaven right here on earth.